


Too Close

by Rojia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: HP - Freeform, Next Gen, mystery story, scorose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-11-23 09:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rojia/pseuds/Rojia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one saw it coming until it was already too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mr. Tall & Mr. Small

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first thing I'm putting up here because it is the most recent thing I've worked on, here's hoping it wasn't a terrible choice as my first fic posting >..>

There was a narrow alleyway in London that was the sort of place one might expect something to jump out of and grab you. It was dark and old, even the cobble stones that made it's floor seemed too dark to reflect light and only made it more dreary. Its sides were buildings so ancient they had begun to lean on their foundations, giving the alley a strange skew when entered. Most people simply walked right by it as if they hadn't noticed this dank and foul feeling place, and those that did stop to examine it would often times run off as if they had just remembered something of grave importance. It was in fact so rarely traveled that moss and dust had settled in and completely taken over the stones that made its floor and walls. If ever it had been a nice place, it wasn't anymore, now it stood unyielding in it's darkness even in the middle of the day.  
  
At the end of this miserable and off center pathway stood a tiny, one room wooden cottage. It looked like it had been plucked from some ancient clearing in a forest somewhere, with one large window facing out the back but too covered in grime to let more then a little light in. The wood itself was gray with age and had begun to twist and warp, pulling at the nails that held it together as if all it wanted was to break apart. The only things in this dilapidated room were a table nearly overgrown with grass from the floorboards and a candelabra that seemed to have been knocked from it, the candles broken and scattered along the wooden floor like so many pieces of glass. It was truly a miserable place at the end of a miserable path.  
  
It was just shy of midnight when there was a sudden stirring in this cottage. The candles suddenly flew together, the pieces mending themselves as the candelabra flew back to it's place on the table. Each candle jumped from the floor, replacing itself in the silver holder and lighting of it's own free will. The small flames flickered and managed to only cast their hazy orange glow on the few feet of air around them.   
  
Two men, one quite tall and well built and the other short and considerably rounder, appeared at the same moment before the table with a small pop. The smaller, who's face was just visible in the dim candle light began looking around as if he was afraid they might not be the only inhabitants of this dismal place. Neither spoke until he seemed to have satisfied himself, and then the larger man gave a mocking smile only just visible at the edges of the candle light, “Good evening to you Mr. Tall. Having a pleasant night are we?”  
  
“It's not the time for frivolities Mr. Small.” The shorter man replied, fidgeting nervously as he always did inside this hut, glancing this way and that. It was as if he thought the walls might decide to jump out and bite him if he got too near. However in so small a space without climbing onto the table or Mr. Small himself there wasn't anywhere that wasn't too near to a wall.  
  
“Why is that Mr. Tall?” The larger man asked, giving him an appraising look although the other man wouldn't have known. No doubt part of what set Mr. Tall so ill at ease was the fact that the candles in the room had never once fully illuminated Mr. Small's face, a fact he took full advantage of whenever possible.  
  
“There's work to be done Mr. Small.” At this the larger man seemed to perk up, loosing the smugness of his grin for a moment amidst a sick sort of excitement. “We have a name you see Mr. Small, and a rather prestigious one at that.”  
  
Mr. Small leaned against the table which looked little more then a cloth draped over tall grass from beneath his feet and tilted his head slightly. With this small movement he managed to throw his entire front into shadow, hiding the expression on his face from the other man entirely. When he spoke it was in a calm voice that covered the anticipation in his gaze, “I'd like very much to know this name Mr. Tall.”  
  
The smaller man smiled now, enjoying the small moment of superiority that he rarely got in these meetings. “Scorpius Malfoy.”  
  
The taller man paused if only for a moment, as if the name was taking a second to fully register, and then without missing a beat the man smiled broadly so that even in the shadow Mr. Tall could tell. “Well now, that is a rather prestigious name indeed.” He ran a thumb across the nail of one of his fingers absently as he considered the name, “We'll see each other again very soon Mr. Tall.”  
  
The smaller man nodded, recognizing his cue to leave now that the information had been given. He glanced around the shack again, as if double checking that they were truly alone, and then spun awkwardly on the ball of his foot. Before he'd managed to make a full rotation there was a small pop and he vanished, leaving Mr. Small very much alone. He stood there, still resting against the table for a long while, as if moving might somehow break the spell of the name he had been given. He shook his head slowly, that odd smile still plastered across it, and then stood, spinning the same way before he too vanished. As soon as he was gone the candles extinguished themselves, the candelabra toppling over and falling to the floor, scattering the candles into pieces across the floor again.

 


	2. Assault on an Officer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 yey! Just wanted to mention before I go any further because I forgot before, all chapter images are made by me unless otherwise credited.

 

Across town in the large foyer of the Ministry of Magic, a pair of high heeled shoes clicked at odd intervals across the marble floor. Rose Weasley scowled a bit, adjusting her feet in them and haphazardly avoiding the people filling to the exits at the end of their days. She understood their rush to escape since it was Friday but they didn't need to keep bumping her. This flow of people headed in the opposite direction was a daily occurrence, although it was at its worst on Fridays, since she worked the night shift and the vast majority of people worked days, it was why she always wore comfortable shoes. Lilly had griped and complained about the hideous shoes she always wore and finally managed to hide them, forcing Rose to wear these three inch tall, half size too big, monstrosities she had picked out and brought over. She was going to have to seriously consider hurting her cousin for this.  
  
She just managed to jostle her way through the mass of people, barely keeping a hold of the stack of files she had, when the crowd began thinning.  Person after person vanishing into the flames of the various exit fires and out through the doors that lead to bathrooms in the buildings above and leaving her more and more alone in the enormus room. It figured she would have to wade her way through the very worst of it.  
  
It was another few minutes before she reached the large office area assigned to the Magical Law Enforcement Department, considering herself lucky that it was on the second floor and she didn't have to ride that rediculous elevator sideways or upside down with the small mountain of paperwork she was carrying. She passed the Auror's offices where her father and uncle were no doubt still working, passed the misuse of muggle artifacts office where a puff of smoke indicated her grandfather was probbably about to start a fire, and took the only possible left along a small corridor.  
  
Near the opposite end of the long hall was a large open area filled with cubicals, much like the Auror's office. This was the assigned offices for the Deprendors who were, for all intensive purposes, detectives. She could have been an auror but she was always better at solving puzzles then beating up thugs for clues. Over the archway that lead into these offices a motto was etched into the stone, one that she'd had barked at her dozens of times by the painting of the former head of their department that was currently sleeping in his frame. Appeto, conperio, scio. Seek, find, understand. It was one of those useless old sayings that gave people purpose when they needed it, but now that the war was over there really wasn’t the sort of urgency there had been in their department.  
  
This lack of urgency had lead to a lot of boring cases, missing things, stolen artifacts, muggle bashings, nothing too special. Like every law enforcement agency she had ever read about those cases turned into files and as she was the only one that regularly worked in the offices at night she was left to deal with the solved case files. She slammed them onto her desk, nearly toppling over a medal she'd gotten the previous year for solving a particularly scandalous case involving a former death eater and a murderer that worked for the ministry. It was a simple little brass plaque but she was quite fond of it and righted it before slipping off her cousin's god awful shoes.  
  
The instantaneous relief didn't stop her glowering at the stack of papers. The first three were little more then information to be given to the boss, Draco Malfoy, before the others were put away in their respective filling cabinets. Normally she would have walked into the office, deposited the folders and been out before he could offend her by hardly noticing, as was his custom when anyone doing menial tasks walked into his office. It irked her to no end, particularly when he would read while she spoke to him, as if what she was saying couldn't possibly be as important as what he was already doing. He was a decent man and he'd always been kind to her but his smug attitude was at times too much to handle. Tonight she could handle his ignoring her and his smugness, if that had been all that awaited her in his office.  
  
Scorpius Malfoy, whom she had attended all seven years at Hogwarts with, was exactly the same way. Draco she felt had earned at least some of his attitude, he had gone from being a death eater during the war to running the Deprendors within five years, and he'd managed to actually be good at his job. Scorpius had only managed to get his job because of his father and took cases that gave him extended vacations in far away places. He wasn't horrible, he had always been pleasant to just about everyone, even when they were in school, but it always seemed so insincere. It was as if he only smiled and said nice things to keep from yelling obscenities, and didn't do a very good job of it. He would be gone for months at a time and then reappear with a solved case only to loiter around the offices until another case came in that caught his attention. It was like he was a child and this entire department existed only to amuse him.  
  
She let out a short breath and grabbed the files that went to Draco, turning on her heels and heading for the office with a brave look that hid how very annoyed she was by what she was about to do. Being that he was the head of the department Draco Malfoy had one of the few offices that actually had a door, and when she reached it she raised her free hand, clenched it in a fist and knocked solidly. For moment there was no answer and then she heard a faint 'come in.' so she did.  
  
Sure enough, standing in front of the desk with his arms folded casually across his chest was Scorpius, and sitting behind it with little more then a glance in her direction was his father. “Did you need something Rose?” He asked, hardly batting an eyelash as he finished scrawling something out on a sheet of parchment.  
  
“These are yours.” She said, walking into the office and holding the files out for him to take. As she stood there she tried her best to ignore Scorpius' presence beside her but couldn't help noticing just how dissimilar he and his father looked. Yes they both had blonde hair, yes they both had gray eyes, and neither of them were horrible looking, but Scorpius seemed to be built more like his mother's side of the family. Where Malfoy men were usually thin and pale he was well built and looked as though he might actually have gone outside more then a few times in his life, but she didn't honestly care what he looked like.  She wasn't one of the idiot girls from school that had fawned over him, but she had never seen the two of them in such close quarters before and it was a notible difference.  
  
When Draco had realized she was there and taken the files she turned to leave without acknowledging his murmured thank you, but a voice crept up from the man beside her and caused her to turn, “Good evening Rose. It's been a long time.” The moment her eyes landed on him he flashed that thousand watt smile that he'd used countless times to get into and out of trouble. He really wasn't bad looking, but even with that friendly smile plastered across his face a small part of her felt the need to punch him.  
  
“Oh has it?” She asked with horribly feigned interest. “I hadn't even noticed really.”  A falsely flattering smile worked its way up from somewhere in the pit of her stomach and cemented itself to her face.  She didn't want to be openly rude to the bosses son in front of him after all.  
  
“I think the last time was at Al's seventeenth birthday, wasn't it?” The smile turned into a chuckle, “I got him a scarf and you got him a slip of paper that said you wouldn't turn him into an animal for being an idiot until after his next birthday.” Even she couldn't help herself grinning a bit at that memory, of course the slip of paper had never actually kept her from doing it, but it had kept her from doing it as often. “Of course you were wearing shoes then.”  
  
Rose looked down quite suddenly and a pink tint stretched across her cheeks as Draco took a moment to pause and look at her feet. She had forgotten those dreadful shoes back at her desk. “Lilly made me wear a pair of her shoes and they were bothering my feet.” She shad, regaining as much of her composure as was possible considering the one thing that had gotten her boss to pay attention was the fact that she was barefoot in his office like soome kind of child.  
  
Scorpius nodded as if this made perfect sense. “You missed his last birthday though, what with that case they had you running rampant over...”  
  
“Everyone was running rampant that week.” Draco chimed in without lifting his eyes from the folders she had brought him. “Former death eaters running around the country side terrorizing muggles, didn't sleep for days...” He trailed off as something in the file seemed to catch his attention.  
  
“It's rude to read while talking to someone dad.” Scorpius said, voicing the very thought that was going through Rose's mind. His father stopped reading a moment and gave him a reproachful look that was met with a smirk and then went back to his papers.  
  
Rose hesitated a moment but when it seemed they were done she turned to leave and managed to fall backward just in time to avoid being hit in the face by a flash of red light. It flew past her, narrowly missed Scorpius who ducked just in time and smashed into a mirror on the wall, shattering the thing into a thousand pieces. They both lay there for an instant, stunned by this unexpected attack, and then the presence of mind seemed to fall on Rose that she needed to protect them and she threw a shield up just in time to deflect a second hex as it flew into the room.  She held her wand toward the door, not entirely sure how she had managed to grab it so quickly, and realized her fingers were shaking around the handle. There was a moment of hesitation and then both Rose and Scorpius began to move.  
  
Rose threw herself at the door, her wand still held out in front of her to protect her and found herself staring at row after row of empty cubicals, the only living thing in sight being her cousin James who was staring at her questioningly from halfway across the room. “James!” She called loudly, rushing over to him. “Who else was in here just now?”  
  
James stared at her as if she had gone mad, “What are you talking about Rosey?”  
  
She grabbed his arms and held them steadily, “James, was there anyone else in this room?” Her cousin was odd but when she was being serious he knew to keep his boundless sarcasm at bay.  
  
He watched her face for a moment and the ever present grin he had faded to a look of concern, “I... there wasn't..... Rosey I'm the only one that's been out here...”  
  
“Dad!” They both turned to look at the doorway, expecting Draco and Scorpius within it's frame, but there was no one there. “Dad come on!”  
  
Rose released James and was hurrying back to the office in an instant, James' footsteps telling her he was right behind her. Something was wrong. She had heard a voice like that before but only in situations that were, well, horrific. Parents learning about dead children or a wife discovering her husband had been murdered. The thought of what must be going on for Scorpius to be making that sound horrified her.  
  
She stopped short when she reached the office, trying to see what exactly was wrong. When her eyes finally landed on Scorpius she found him leaning awkwardly over his father who was laying half way behind his desk with his back on the floor and his eyes locked on the ceiling. “Dad! Get up!” Scorpius said, shaking his father a bit as if that might somehow make the older man sit up. It took a moment for the full effect of what she was looking at to register but when it did she had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up. Whatever the hex had been it had hit Draco cleanly in the chest, apparently after bouncing off the mirror on the wall, and had burned a hole as big around as a dinner plate through him.  
  
From behind her she heard the unmistakable sound of a wand being drawn and a quick flash of white light caused everything to glow for an instant, and then the alarm sounded from somewherre in the depths of the ministry. At that moment every exit, every doorway outside, everything that could let someone out of the ministry building itself was sealed shut simultaneously, Rose wasn't considering the possibility of catching whomever had done this, she was staring at Scorpius Malfoy as he clutched at his father's body and she could swear he started to cry, and her fingers wrapped around the door frame so hard her knuckles turned white.  
  
“Rose...” James began, putting a hand on her arm, “Rose we need to get him out of there....” James was a goof and hardly ever took anything seriously unless threatened with bodily harm but he was an excellent Auror. If he said Scorpius needed to be taken out of the room he knew what he was talking about and she couldn't argue with him.  
  
“Right.” She said, and after a moment and far too much effort she managed to get her feet moving and approached the pair of blonde men. “Scorpius, come on now.” She put a hand on his shoulder and felt him take a few deep breaths before he looked at her. There were no tears, maybe she had imagined it, but there was a strangely blank look on his face. “We shouldn't be in here, the Aurors... they'll need us outside.”  
  
It took him a moment but he stood, looking anywhere but down, and followed her out of the room where James was waiting. They had only been in the outer offices for a moment when what seemed like the entirety of the Auror's office had emptied into theirs. Harry Potter, Teddy Lupin and a few others swarmed up and surrounded James, Rose and Scorpius as the small evidence recovery team entered the office itself. “What happened?” Harry asked, turning to his son and niece.  
  
“We were in the office and some sort of hex came through the door.” Rose said loudly over the blaring siren which seemed ten times as loud outside Draco's office. “It rebounded off the mirror on the wall and...” She glanced at Scorpius who was staring intently at his shoe, “It hit Mr. Malfoy Uncle Harry....”  
  
Harry's eyes went wide and he broke off from the group, heading for the office, Teddy stepped forward and glanced between the three of them. “Anyone see anything? If you saw a face I can try and, you know...” He motioned to his own face. Anyone that knew Teddy Lupin knew he was an incredibly good Metamorphmagus, and he had on several occasions shifted himself so that they knew what the suspect in various incidents looked like.  
  
“There was no face.” James replied, glancing at the other two, “I was out here the entire time, no one but me was in this room.”  
  
“Come to think of it why were you here?” Rose asked her cousin. He was off already, he always worked first shift, but more importantly he was an Auror and they usually kept to their own offices.  
  
James looked at her for a moment as if confused and then said simply, “I was going to get dinner and since you usually forget your lunch I came to ask if you wanted something.”  
  
Rose stared at him for a moment and shook her head, she had in fact forgotten her lunch today as she'd been occupied in a mad search for her shoes. Before she could explain this however Harry appeared again at their sides, “All of you, off you go, check every single person in the ministry do you understand?” The Aurors that had been around them nodded and headed off in various directions, leaving the three alone with Harry. He watched them go and when he was sure they were out of earshot he rounded on Rose, “Tell me exactly what happened.”  
  
She blinked at her uncle a few times, not quite sure where to begin, and glanced sideways at Scorpius. Should she really talk about this in front of him? “I got some files from the front desk, people sending in their finished paperwork. They were stacking up so I went up and got the lot, brought them back, and set them there on my desk.” She pointed to the desk that bore her name plate which still held the stack of files. “Then the ones that weren't for filling went to.... Mr. Malfoy....” She glanced at Scorpius again but he was still staring at his shoes and seemingly ignoring everything that was going on around him. “I took the files in, we were talking for a moment and then when I turned to leave I nearly got a face full of that hex, but I dropped to the ground, and Scorpius ducked and then it hit the mirror....” She paused for a moment, trying to find a way to avoid the phrase 'and killed Draco Malfoy', “Then I threw up a shield and there was one more hex and then nothing.”  
  
Harry nodded approvingly, “And then?”  
  
She took a breath and started again, “And then I came out and James was here, and I asked who else had been in the room but he said there hadn't been anyone.”  
  
“There wasn't.” James chimed in, glancing at the office as someone conjured something before walking into the room.  
  
“And then Scorpius was yelling....” Rose began again. She felt horrible, somewhere between nauseous and too tired to move, as if she needed a shower to get the feeling off her skin. She had seen dead people before of course, it was part of the job, and some of them she had known before they died, but this was different. She had been standing in the room and hadn't even noticed, and it was her boss, her class mate's father. If she felt this bad she could only imagine how Scorpius felt, or she could have if she would have dared let herself. “I suppose he'd just noticed...”  
  
“No I saw him fall.” Scorpius said quietly, looking evenly at Harry. “I saw a flash and then when I realized Rose was ducking I did too, and it hit the mirror and then him and he dropped.” Rose had to swallow again to avoid being sick, “Then when she got up and went out of the office I went to him and tried to revive him, heal him... It didn't work.”  
  
He slipped his hands into his pockets and looked almost calmly at Harry who nodded. “Alright then, I need to know who it was aimed at.”  
  
“Scorpius.” Rose said steadily and after a moment's consideration Scorpius nodded in agreement. “He was standing in the same place before and after, I turned and took a step or I wouldn't have been in the way.” She could see it in her head, where they all were. Her deciding to go was just chance, otherwise it would have simply whizzed behind her head and she would have been none the worse for wear. Scorpius ducking when he did had saved his life, where he had been standing was just a bit of bad luck, horribly unimaginably bad luck.  
  
Harry placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, “The hex was red?”  
  
“How did you know?” Scorpius asked, glancing at Harry with what could only be called mild suspicion. Harry Potter, while never a friend of Draco's, wouldn't have killed him, and Rose knew it.  
  
“What's that now?” James asked, bristling at the insinuation in the younger man's voice.  
  
“I just asked how he knew.” Scorpius answered, not even bothering to look at James, his eyes instead locked on Harry.  
  
James seemed to puff up, and if not for the fact Rose was in between them would have been advancing on the younger man.  “You listen here now you great...”  
  
“James.” James stopped short when his father said his name, watching as he shook his head. “Give me a minute with these two please? I'm sure Teddy could use your help.”  
  
James glanced at each of them for a long moment, his eyes lingering particularly long on Scorpius before he nodded. “Right then.” He headed off after the other Aurors but not before glancing back at Scorpius and giving him a look that was akin to murder.  
  
Harry took a moment to collect himself and studied both their faces for a moment. “Were either of you involved in the case last year where the ministry official was killed in his home and there was never a killer found?”  
  
Rose nodded, it had been one of the few cases that year that she had been brought in on by another and much more experienced Deprendor, he had been hoping her skills with puzzles might help narrow down the possible hexes that had been used to kill him. It hadn’t exploded so much as burned.... “My god....” She murmured, looking at her uncle for confirmation and receiving a nod in return. “How many?”  
  
“Nine.” Harry replied.  
  
“Nine what?” Asked Scorpius, who had most likely been out of the country at the time on one of his cases.  
  
“The ministry official he's talking about, Flemming, he was killed by a hex that blew a hole through him, just the way that one did in there.” Rose motioned in the general direction of the office not thirty feet behind them. Scorpius' face fell for a moment and then he nodded soberly. “No one ever did find out what hex it was, and if it's one that the murderer's made up himself there's no way of telling. If it's a home made spell though, then there's a good chance he's the only one that knows it.”  
  
“A serial murderer.” Harry summed up, glancing at the office to be sure no one was in the doorway listening. “We have nine confirmed victims in our office, and a dozen or more that we can't prove. If that hex was headed for you Scorpius, then we have a problem.”  
  
“What's that?” Scorpius asked, a frown that didn't suit his face set sternly on it.  
  
Harry returned the steady look and then slowly, as if he'd rather not tell him, the words slipped out. “People have lived through attacks before, several of them in fact, but none of them have ever made it longer then a week.”  
  
 


	3. So this is Rosier Mannor?

It had been the arrival of the Medi-witch that had interrupted their discussion, as her appearance marked the removal of the body. Harry had apparently decided it would do absolutely no good for Scorpius to see his father's body being hauled away on a stretcher and had sent the pair of them to his office. Considering that Harry himself had to oversee the moving of the body it seemed the most humane thing in Rose's mind although in the hour since she had found herself regretting it.  
  
The alarm had been shut off within a quarter of an hour, meaning the Aurors had finished checking with everyone in the Ministry, which after first shift wasn't very many people at all, and they had been left to sit in silence. The office was decently sized and with the exception of Harry's paper laden desk and chair and the usual nick-knacks around the room, had only a pair of chairs in front of the desk for them to sit in. The only thing going through Rose's mind however was how much she wanted to spin in her chair and scream at Scorpius to stop pacing and sit down. He'd been at it since a few moments after they'd walked in, and if the alarm had still been going off she was sure she would have lost her mind, but she understood why he didn't want to sit. He no doubt wanted to do something, or even finish the conversation they had been having with Harry so that he could understand what was happening and not think about what had happened already. She wouldn't have been able to stop moving at that point either, so no matter how much it pained her she bit her lip and kept her mouth shut.  
  
Another few minutes went by with nothing but the soft sounds of his shoes on the stone floor and she decided that she couldn't take it another second. She turned in her chair, intent on finding a nice way of telling him to sit his annoying arse in a chair, when they both paused. The sound of the door handle turning caused their eyes to move to the entry in time to see Harry and James step through. Harry looked quite grim as he took his place behind his desk and James took the seat beside Rose, spinning his wand between his fingers absently. Harry cleared his throat as Scorpius began pacing again and asked, “You all got on in school?”  
  
James and Rose glanced at one another and she took a moment to glance back at Scorpius who was looking at Harry quizzically. “Well enough.” She said, and for the most part it was true. She may have had a problem with Scorpius' attitude but at no point had she ever actually taken the time to dislike him. He seemed to agree because he didn't add anything, but kept pacing his path back and forth in front of the door.  
  
“Good.” Harry said, leaning back in his seat. “You three have just become the best of friends. In fact, you're all so close you'll be staying together.”  
  
“Oh good we could braid each other's hair!” James said with such enthusiasm that the shocked expression on Roses face turned into a snort of suppressed laughter almost before it had appeared. The elder boy leaned backward in his chair until he could see Scorpius behind him, “What do you think Scorpius should we paint your nails green?”  
  
“James.” Harry warned, and his son slowly stopped smiling, although it seemed to take a great amount of effort. “I'm quite serious, the three of you are all directly involved, there's a good chance that whomever this is might come looking for you two if he can't find Scorpius, so you're all going to ground together. We're looking for a place for you all to stay but it's hard to find a place with no ties to the Ministry.”  
  
“Rosier manor.” Scorpius said simply. They all looked at him, Rose incredibly happy that he had stopped pacing and was now standing between the two chairs looking solemnly at Harry, “My gran, Narcissa, she was Evan Rosier's closest cousin. When he died the manor didn't pass on to anyone but she kept it up for a while.”  
  
Harry considered this idea for a moment, “There's no point putting you somewhere they can trace back to your family especially if they've seen your grandmother going in and out...”  
  
“They can't have, the house has been sealed since before I was born.” Scorpius said simply.  
  
“They sealed it?” Rose asked, her interest peaked now. Sealing a magical house was similar to sealing a condemned muggle house in a way, but considerably more stable. When the family died out and the house went unoccupied long enough a spell was placed on it that prevented any unauthorized entry into the house. If a muggle came upon it they would see nothing more then a patch of murky looking marsh, and if a wizard found it they would discover without the password, typically known only to the people who had the house sealed, they couldn't get in even if they tried to knock down a wall. Rose had never seen this particular spell used, and the thought of witnessing the breaking of a seal was quite intriguing.  
  
James shook his head, “It's too well known a place, everyone's heard of mad old Evan's manor.”  
  
“Evan Rosier was my great uncle.” Scorpius said shortly and James rolled his eyes. “My Aunt Bellatrix was the one that had it sealed, she told my gran the password, but she hasn't been back since my father was young. It's big so there's plenty of space for the three of us and we can re-seal it after we've gone in.”  
  
Harry considered this for a long moment, “It's not the worst of the ideas being tossed around, it's certainly as good as having a secret keeper. Better even when you consider the fact that the secret keeper is more or less locked in the house.” He glanced between the three of them, “It would be the most easily defensible place, considering it's impossible to get into. We'd get you a meeting mirror so you wouldn't have to leave and we could still communicate...” Harry paused momentarily as it seemed to occur to him that the meeting mirror in Draco's office was actually what the hex that had killed him had ricocheted off.  
  
Rose glanced at Scorpius but he didn't show any signs of caring what had been said. “It's a good idea.” She said simply, getting a short glance from Scorpius, “After all if I'm to be locked up with these two I'd prefer it be in a mansion rather then a shack.” James cracked a grin and shrugged appeasingly by way of resignation. He was outnumbered and he seemed to know it.  
  
“It's settled then. Give me four hours to get supplies and have things ready for you, and then you can apparate out.” He stood and indicated they should as well, and with a wave of his wand the furniture moved to the edges of the room. When the chairs and desk were safely against the walls a trio of cots popped up from the flooring in a small row. “You can sleep if you like but you'll have to stay in the office. If whomever this is got in once, it's safer this way. I'll have Teddy posted outside the door if you need anything.”  
  
They nodded and he let himself out of the office, his wand held in front of him as if to ward off an attack should it come. The door closed behind him without incident and they were left alone in the medium sized room, glancing at one another for some sort of movement. After a moment Scorpius crossed to the cot at the end of the row and laid down, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.  
  
Rose took a seat on the middle cot but knew trying to sleep at this point would be futile. She rubbed her toes together, wishing she had remembered to grab Lily's shoes from her desk, no matter how abhorred the things were. At this point even those miniature torture devices were better then being barefoot on the stone which she had suddenly realized was freezing.  
  
“So.” James said, taking a seat on the last bunk, facing her, “I don't like this idea.”  
  
“Oh come now, it's not horrible. Besides I'm sure Alice Longbottom won't kill you if you're gone for a week. At worst she'll maim you.” She finished in a matter of fact way that caused James to grin at her.  
  
“That helps, oh so much. It's not what I mean.” She raised a brow at him and he glanced at Scorpius for a moment before leaning a bit closer to her, “What if it's not just a week? What if he does survive and we're locked in with him for a month, or six months or a year until this killer is caught?”  
  
Rose considered this for a moment, it was true, if this killer was responsible for the ministry worker the year before and who knows how many before that there was a chance he might never be caught, and she certainly didn't want to spend her life in a mansion with only her cousin and Scorpius to keep her company. “We'll just have to get Alice visitation rights I suppose.” Rose responded, curling her feet up under her to try and warm her toes.  
  
James looked less then entertained by her joke and absently ran his thumb over a finger, “Rosey I'm serious here, we could be in that house for years, all because of him. If this killer managed to get into the ministry what's stopping him getting into the Rosier manor?”  
  
“The ministry is a public building.” Scorpius said without moving or opening his eyes, “Despite all the security anyone can enter if they know how to get in. That's why every so often a muggle wonders in here. A sealed house is guarded much like Hogwarts, excepting the only way to get in at all is with the password. You can't send a homing spell into one, you can't run a microphone, you can't break down the door, it's a completely private building.” He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling as he spoke, “And if it comes down to years, I'll make sure to let you out.”  
  
James looked surprised at first but then quickly began to glare. “Oh if it gets to years I'll already have blasted my brains out, so don't trouble yourself.” He spun around on the cot and laid down, facing away from both of them and settling into the bed as if he might fall asleep.  
  
“No trouble.” Scorpius assured him, letting his eyes close again.  
  
Rose shook her head and laid on her stomach in her own cot. It was surprisingly comfortable for being a thin mattress on a metal frame. She looked over at Scorpius and let out a small sigh, “Scorpius.” He turned his head and looked at her and for a moment she reconsidered what she was going to say but even if it was him she still needed to say it, “I'm sorry.”  
  
He looked at her for a moment and then nodded his head before turning back to the ceiling and closing his eyes again. She wasn't sure how long she was laying there, it might have been a few minutes or an hour, but at one point she was sure Scorpius' face began to strain in a way that suggested holding back tears. Of course, without getting up and looking at him she wasn't sure, but still she kept watching him. Almost before she realized it she was being shaken softly.  
  
“Rosey.... the prison van is here to collect us.” She stared up at James who was smiling down at her and shaking her shoulder. “Good morning sleepy head.”  
  
“What time is it?” She sat up and rubbed at her eyes, stretching for a moment before she swung her feet off the cot and squeaked, pulling them back up as soon as they'd hit the floor. She'd forgotten she wasn't wearing shoes and the stone floors got colder the later it was.  
  
“Half past five, it'll be dawn soon. Took them a bit longer to get things ready then they thought.” James said, grinning at her as she stared down at the floor. “You'll need these I expect.” He produced a pair of red and white trainers with holes beginning to wear in the toes and a piece of the left heel missing entirely. These were the very pair of shoes she had been searching for before coming to work.  
  
“I love you!” She said simply, snatching them from him as he laughed and slipping them on her feet. “Where did you get them? I looked for hours before work.”  
  
“Dad called Lily and made her bring them down.” He explained, “She also brought your toiletries and a few changes of clothes. They have it all in with the supplies.” He gave a bit of a roguish grin, “Alice brought mine and told them if they kept me more then a few weeks she'd come find me herself.”  
  
Rose stood and was so relieved to have her own shoes she nearly spun around on the spot. She had never been so happy over a pair of shoes in her life. “Sounds like Alice.” She glanced up and realized Scorpius wasn't in the room. “Where's Scorpius?”  
  
James paused, “Oh, Teddy, Dad and he are already outside, they let me wake you since I don't find your snoring annoying.”  
  
“I don't snore.” Rose said shortly, making a point to smack at his arm.  
  
“Like a freight train.” James replied as he opened the door and they both walked out. “Let's get this over with.”  
  
Not five feet away stood Teddy, Harry and Scorpius, just as James had said, although Scorpius was looking much less affected by everything that was going on around him. He was holding what looked like a small journal in his hand with an ornate crest of some sort on it. “Hurry on now.” Harry said, waving the two of them to him. “We'll all be appartating to the house together, and at the same time other groups of Aurors will be apparating other places, just in case they're tracking apparations.” He glanced at them all and they nodded in understanding. “We'll be going to Hogwarts first, and then from there on to the Rosier manor. Teddy, when we get to Hogwarts I want you to stay there in case someone follows.”  
  
Teddy nodded and and his teal hair slowly developed a streak of red. It was something Rose had only seen a few times in her life as it was something he did involuntarily. It typically meant he was angry but in this case he was no doubt ready for the fight to come, if one came, and he was itching to get it started. “When we get there how will we re-seal the house?” Rose asked, never having done it before she was unsure of the procedure. “Do we have to do something or...?”  
  
“It will seal behind us when the right words are spoken.” Scorpius said indicating the journal in his hand. “It's why my gran brought this.”  
  
Of course, Scorpius' grandmother was the one that they had contacted to bring his things to the ministry. His mother would already have been in the ministry because of what had happened to his father, no doubt she was the first person allowed into the ministry after the lock down. It occurred to Rose that she and James were the only things standing between her and having to receive the same news regarding her son. Rose nodded as that thought settled into her mind, “Alright.”  
  
James was beside her then, and they all glanced at one another as Harry checked his watch. “Three, two, one...” They all spun at the same moment, a sudden and strong jerk in their sinuses and a squeezing sensation later they were finishing their twirl in front of Hogwarts. When they had all steadied themselves they found Minerva McGonagall and Neville Longbottom standing just outside the gate, waiting for them. “It's been some time.” Harry said, shaking Neville's hand with a smile that she hadn't seen on her uncle's face in some time. “Glad you could both meet us. Teddy will be staying here with you, and we'll be...”  
  
The words were lost when a bright white hex flew just over his head, connecting with a piece of the gate and showering him in sparks. “Scatter!” Was all James managed before he was forced to drop face first to the grass to avoid being hit by another hex. They all did just that, disappearing behind trees and protruding supports that helped hold the wall around the school.  
  
It was obvious that whomever was firing hexes at them wasn't sure which of the moving figures had been Scorpius as the hexes were shooting in all directions as if to hit everyone, but these spells were blasting through tree trunks and denting the massive wall without any real effort. Regardless who was hit it would most likely be fatal.  
  
Rose and Scorpius had ducked behind adjacent trees and were busy firing hexes back although neither seemed certain where they were coming from. They were so busy in fact that Rose had to reach out and grab Scorpius as another of those odd red hexes came flying around his tree and connected where his head had been. “Thanks.” Scorpius mumbled, scrambling behind her tree as well. “Do you know where the manor is?”  
  
Rose shook her head, shooting off a jinx over her shoulder. “I've never been, all I know is it's in Wales.”  
  
Scorpius nodded, “Then we'll all have to go together. James!” They both looked around, hoping to catch site of him rushing toward them but they didn't see anyone coming. “James!”  
  
“Hush up or they'll find you!” James hissed as he appeared from around a nearby rock. “Good thing I wasn't too far away or you'd have brought the murderer down on yourself.”  
  
“Get out of here!” Came Harry's voice from the other side of the path that lead to the gate just before another hex exploded on the tree he was crouching behind. They caught one glimpse of him, his face cut open and bleeding, before the glow from the hex subsided.  
  
“On three.” Scorpius said, tucking the journal into his belt and holding a hand out to both of them. James looked at it for a long moment and then grabbed onto his wrist. Rose hesitated, staring at his hand as if he might somehow bite her with it. “One, two..” Rose latched onto his hand and they all started to spin on their toes at the same moment. By the time they heard the pop and had finished their spin they found themselves knee deep in a small lake.  
  
“Bloody hell!” James said, lifting his feet one at time as if checking he could free himself from the muck on the bottom. “Why'd you land us in a lake?”  
  
Scorpius wasn't listening, he was reading through a page in the journal which he had swiftly un-tucked from his belt. Rose took the moment to look around and could make out the shape of the house in the quickly fading gloom but none of it's details. She took a step toward it and Scorpius put a hand out in front of her to stop her, “There's charms, give me a moment.” James rolled his eyes as Scorpius read over something and looked up at the house. “Tom Marvollo Riddle.” He said slowly and deliberately.  
  
James and Rose both watched as the first rays of the sun reached the tan house, illuminating the red trimmed windows as if they were on fire. They both watched curiously for a long moment as if they expected some sort of great padlock to appear and unlock itself for them. When nothing seemed to be happening James took a few steps forward. “I wouldn't get too close there's a ...” Scorpius never got to finish what he was saying however because at that moment James lifted off his feet and flew backward a few hundred yards before dropping like a stone into the center of the lake.  
  
“James!” Rose said, turning to go after him only to find Scorpius grabbing her arm.  
  
“He's fine, it's not meant to kill just keep people away.” Rose glared at him and although he did let go of her he never looked away from the house itself. Surely enough a moment later James surfaced, a disgruntled look plastered on soaked his face, and began swimming back to where they stood from the apparently much deeper part of the lake.  
  
“Let me help him at least.” Rose said, starting to back away and preparing herself to wade out into the cold water to where James was still paddling toward them. He didn't grab her but held his hand out again to signal her to stay. “It's not going to throw me toward the house!” She spat, watching as he simply stood there, utterly ignoring her cousin's plight. That strange urge to punch him rose up in her again but she managed to keep her fist occupied with the fabric of her jeans instead.  
  
“There.” Scorpius said with a half hearted smile, watching the front of the house as if he knew something she didn't. Despite herself she turned and began examining every inch of the building. It was a pale tan with a red trimmed door and windows, faded red shades hanging over areas that obviously weren't entirely enclosed, although they weren't moving despite the breeze. It was four stories high and had at least eight rooms on each level, that was just counting windows of course, there was no telling if the inside had been magically expanded. It really was a gorgeous place, but nothing seemed to be moving or doing anything that would have caused him to comment on it.  
  
“Nicely done there.” James spat as he finally came trudging up to the two of them, dripping wet and positively furious. “Could have warned me you know!”  
  
“I did warn you.” Scorpius mumbled distractedly, snapping the journal shut and starting toward the house. He didn't seem at all concerned about the fact that he had just seen James hurled backward through the air, but rather seemed quite focused on the house itself.  
  
James followed after him, looking as though he might try and break the younger boy in half, but he stopped short a foot or two from where he'd encountered the spell that had sent him flying. Rose waded up to him, now no more then ankle deep in the water, and put a hand on his arm. “Come on, let's go.” James looked a bit reluctant and Rose rolled her eyes. “Look, see?” She motioned to the house and in the brightening light James could clearly see what she was pointing toward.  
  
The front door of the house had opened itself.


	4. Safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appologize for the wait, life got busy.

Rose readjusted the shirt she was wearing for the third time before finally accepting that there would always be a slight gap between the top of the jeans and the shirt itself. The jeans were men's, borrowed from a closet in a room down the hall to replace her soaked ones. The shirt was from the closet in the room she was currently occupying, and whomever had owned it originally was at least three inches shorter then she was now. It didn't help that the thing was ancient and covered in lace and had obviously been picked to be the muggle disguise for whatever witch had used the room.

Her clothes were thrown absently over the shower curtain bar in the adjoining bathroom, the constant sound of water dripping onto tile reassuring her that they would be wet for a good long while. She had of course tried to magically dry them but there was only so much one could do to magical pond scum it would seem and she had reached her limit.

She pushed the shirt around on her again, trying to see if it might fit properly if she adjusted it, but to no avail. “Did it fit you like this?” She asked the skull she'd seen on the dresser nearby as if it might answer her somehow. She knew it couldn't have belonged to the person that wore her newly acquired shirt, it was too old, but still she looked at it for a long while as if it somehow held her answer.

It was human, that much was for sure, but judging by the color and the look of it had to be at least a hundred years old. They were disgusting and macabre, but old relics, and far too many people had them in their homes. She had seen them in a lot of houses that at one point or another had belonged to a dark wizard or witch, and they were always a bit horrifying. Typically they were for some dark enchantment or another, and as creepy as it was the chances were this one, like so many others, was magically adhered to the table it sat on and couldn't be removed. She just hoped she had never met any of its living descendants.

The sounds of yelling from the next room over brought her out into the hallway where she peered through the open door to see the boys yelling at each other. James was pacing back and forth wearing what was beyond doubt the ugliest shirt she'd ever seen. It was obviously from the seventies, brown and purple and green all in a horrible paisley print. She watched as he rounded on Scorpius, who looked almost normal, excepting the black shirt he was wearing was several sizes too big on him. “Well then where the bloody hell are they!?”

“I don't know, why don't you ask your father?” Scorpius said, flipping another page in the small book he'd gotten back in the ministry. 

“Don't you bring him into this!” 

“He's already in it, he's the one that doesn't seem able to get us the supplies he promised.”

James took a step toward him and Scorpius took a moment to glance at him. “Just because your father...”

“Alright, that's enough of that.” Rose said as she walked into the room, the bare wooden floor sending chills up through her feet and for a moment she wished her trainers were finished drying. Scorpius took only a moments notice that she was there and then went back to reading whatever it was that James had interrupted. James fumed momentarily and rounded on her, although his anger subsided quickly under her gaze. “What's got your bonnet in a knot?” 

James started to say something and then seemed to think better of it before he spoke sharply, “Dad's late with the supplies.” As that seemed to be all he had to say he rather gruffly turned on his heels and stomped from the room, barely managing to squeeze past her in the doorway.

“That's a lovely shirt by the way!” Rose called after him, and much to her surprise Scorpius grinned at the page he was reading. “So why are the supplies late?” She asked, folding her arms around her a bit to guard against the chill the empty house still had. It was true the fires were all roaring now that someone was inside the house again, to their credit they had lit themselves the moment they had entered, but they had been drenched in the lake that stood just outside the door and despite her best efforts at drying herself she was still cold.

Scorpius finished whatever line he had been reading and closed the book, carefully placing it on his lap. “I imagine whomever attacked us most likely hasn't given up yet, and from what your uncle said the supplies would go to him and he would send them on to us. Therefore if he's still preoccupied with fighting for his life and it gets too late we'll have to seal the house and make do with what's here already.”

Rose nodded and took a moment to look out the window on the opposite wall. The manor itself stood at an odd place, on the one side was nothing but a large lake which extended for the better part of a mile into the distance down a gentle slope. It was actually quite picturesque if you didn't mind the chill. To either side of this lake were a few hundred yards of grass and trees, stretching off into hills and mountains as they got farther and farther from the water. On the other side of the house however, the side she was looking out over now, there was little more then a few dozen feet of lawns and a near vertical hill that came to an end just outside of the village below. 

Scorpius was right, if their things didn't arrive soon they would have to seal off the house again, it was only a matter of time before the villagers noticed lights turning on and off in the abandoned manor after all. The sealing spell hid these things, but without it in place they would notice. She let out a sigh, they'd only been there for fifteen minutes and already she was getting paranoid, all a wonderfully horrid part of the job. “Is there anything in the cupboards that won't eat us first?” 

Scorpius considered for a moment and then shrugged. It was odd to see him shrug, she couldn't remember a single moment where he hadn't had something to say about everything. “I've never been here myself. The book doesn't say anything so I can't be sure.”

“Well then I'm going to go see.” She turned rather quickly and walked back out into the hall, the carpet immediately warming her feet as she stepped onto it. She hated how she continuously wound up barefoot today, but at least the carpet wasn't freezing.

“Have you decided against shoes now or is it just a coincidence?” She hadn't taken more then a handful of steps when she was surprised to hear Scorpius' voice so close, and felt her face go red when she started a bit at the sudden question.

“They're trainers.” she said, as if this simple fact would explain everything. When she glanced at him and he looked mildly bemused she explained, “Magical or not there's no way to properly dry the inside of a trainer other then a muggle dryer or hours and hours in the sun.”

Scorpius gave an approving nod and followed her down the thin stairs that wound at odd angles between each floor. It was as if the original builder had wanted everyone that entered the house to become thoroughly and hopelessly lost. They were currently on the third floor and depending how they went down they would either come to the second or main floor, or inexplicably wind up on the roof. Of course when she considered that the original owners of the house were in fact Rosiers, it made a bit more sense. “Oh, now that I think of it, who's clothes are these?” She asked, gesturing to herself as they reached a platform between flights of steps. This particular one had two choices and she paused to allow him to lead the way.

“The jeans were Evan Rosier's, or they should be, and the shirt I think belonged to Great Aunt Druella.” He started down the stairs on the right and she followed. “You're using her room if the book is correct. I trust you've met her.”

Rose stopped short and stared at the back of his head in confusion. What could he possibly mean met her? She wasn't unfamiliar with ghosts, she'd become quite fond of the Grey Lady when she would circle the common room of Ravenclaw tower at night, but she hadn't seen anything in the room. When he realized she wasn't following he stopped and looked back at her questioningly. “Met her?” 

He grinned in a way that made her somewhat uncomfortable, “The skull on the dresser, that's Great Aunt Druella.”

A shiver ran up her spine at what he had just said. “Great Aunt... Why is her head on the dresser?”

Scorpius shrugged slightly again as he started back down the steps. “From what Gran says Uncle Evan went a bit mad after he graduated and killed his parents. I guess he didn't want to get rid of her entirely.”

She felt for a moment like she might throw up. “That skull has to be a hundred years old!” She shifted her shirt again uncomfortably, there was simply no way.

“Apparently he'd get bored and throw her in the lake from time to time, set her teeth chattering with some kind of hex for a while. Gran had to stick it to the dresser and use a handful of jinxes to keep it from jumping off and throwing itself in the lake once.”

“That is disgusting.” Rose said as they appeared on the first floor, the large runner carpets laid out like a maze for her to pick her way around from room to room. She could only imagine the jokes that James would make if she started hopping around like a toad form carpet to carpet, or ran along the furniture in an attempt to keep her feet from touching the stone that made up the floor of this level.

“Here.” Scorpius stepped out of the shoes he had been wearing and kicked them back toward her, “We've got stone floors at home.” He explained, walking across the large front room in his socks, as if to look out the window while Rose gratefully slipped the shoes on. 

They were far too big but they were better then bare feet. She shifted her feet around trying to find a comfortable way to keep them on as she moved through the house. She took a moment to look over at him and then begrudgingly said, “Thanks, the only thing in Druella's room were old stockings and heels, and I'm not about to share someone's stockings.”

Scorpius chuckled a bit and pushed aside a heavy looking window hanging to check outside, no doubt looking for the missing supplies. At that exact moment what sounded like rocks slammed into the window with enough force to send Scorpius jumping backward in surprise. He landed on the floor staring at the window and in an instant James appeared at the top of the steps behind Rose. “The bloody hell was that?”

A crack like a gunshot caused them all to jump again, muffled sounds like falling bricks striking the roof well above their heads following quickly, and somewhere a few more objects hit a window above them. There were a few scattered splashing sounds, and then everything went silent leaving the three of them looking at one another nervously. “Did you see what it was?” Rose asked, watching the windows as if something might burst through them and attack.

Scorpius shook his head, slowly managing to regain his feet and wands appearing in all three of their hands. James was the first to start moving again, approaching the door with slow, measured steps. “What if something's gone wrong?” Rose asked as she followed after him.

“We'll never know if we don't look.” He answered and then he gestured a hand toward Scorpius without bothering to look over his shoulder at them, “Just keep him back.” Rose stood between the two as James pulled the front door open and stepped through it, wand raised defensively. He stood there for a long moment, poised to defend himself, when another cascade of sounds echoed from the roof above. “It's alright.” He called, poking his head back inside, “Come and see.”

The two hurried outside and looked out in shock as books and articles of clothing sailed down from the roof, landing awkwardly in the lake and sinking, or floating along on the surface. There were other things floating along, food, supplies, and even what looked like a suitcase, and the window Scorpius had been looking out of was coated in the remnants of what appeared to have been a mustard and ham sandwich. “These are the supplies.” James said, fishing a shirt he recognized as Rose's out of the water, “Something's gone wrong.”

None of them moved for a long while as they stared up at the sky, waiting for something else to come. There was nothing for a while, just the slow crawl of a few clouds and the sounds of things shifting in the water, and then far above them there was a sound like a gunshot and something started to fall. “Aresto Momentum.” Scorpius said, his wand swinging out to the thing as it started to plummet toward the water. It slowed to a float and as it came down he nudged it toward them with his wand tip until it hovered a few inches above their heads. It was a round mirror, with an ornate gold frame that went all the way around it, and they recognized the runes etched in the glass that made it a meeting mirror.

Rose reached up and grabbed it, pulling it down to them, and was a bit surprised by the weight of it but quickly tapped the glass with her wand and waited. Where there should have been an image of someone on the other side only their own faces stared back at them, and the reflections like their actual faces were growing more and more worried. They looked out at all the other supplies floating around them or resting just out of reach of the water on the shore and they knew for the time being they were entirely alone.


End file.
